The Week’s Best Longreads: The Daily Beast Picks for September 22, 2012

Where is Cuba Going?
John Jeremiah Sullivan, The New York Times Magazine

Not long ago, there were smart people who doubted that such a thing as a post-Fidel Cuba could even exist. What comes after the Castros is as much of a mystery as ever.

The Inside Story of a Controversial New Gospel
Ariel Sabar, Smithsonian

According to a top religion scholar, this 1,600-year-old text fragment suggests that some early Christians believed Jesus was married—possibly to Mary Magdalene.

The Lie Factory
Jill Lepore, The New Yorker

How American politics became a business.

Among the Alawites
Nir Rosen, London Review of Books

What a mystical Syrian sect wants for its country.

The Man Who Wasn’t There 
William D. Cohen, Bloomberg Businessweek

As Treasury Secretary, Robert Rubin oversaw the last great roaring economy—and set the table for its demise. At Citigroup, he was paid $126 million—and the firm almost perished. The tale of a wise man, and a phantom.

Jürgen Habermas Against Europe 
Bruce Robbins, Los Angeles Review of Books

The German philosopher unloads on his country’s handling of the debt crisis.

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